Last weekend, I attended a walking tour called "Three Wats, Three Architectural Styles". Now that I'm studying at the National Museum, I've taken a new interest in Thai and Southeast Asian art history. The tour was a fascinating look at three historic temples with three very different cultural designs, respectively Mon, Ayutthaya, and Chinese style temples. Over the next few days, I'll be releasing a miniseries of three posts, each one highlighting one of these beautiful and fascinatingly unique temples.
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Wat Bhoman Khunaram: One of the only Mahayana temples in Thailand, built with Chinese and Tibetan elements
Wat Bohman is a Buddhist temple in the Mayahana School. Thailand, like most of Southeast Asia, is a Theravada Buddhist country.
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| a rare Mahayana-Tibetan temple in Thailand |
Mahayana is rare in Thailand, practiced by only a small number of people - almost exclusively the Thai-Chinese population. As such, there are only a very, very few Mahayana temples in the kingdom.
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| Wat Bohman - a Chinese (Mahayana) temple in Bangkok |
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| Mahayana monks wear different robes than Theravada monks do |
Mahayana Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism are two sects of the same religion and sharing the same beliefs and goals, but each with its own steps towards enlightened.
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| the Chinese temple hall |
To greatly oversimplify: Theravada is the older school of Buddhism. It stresses the importance of monastic asceticism and the achievement of enlightenment through successive lives. Theravada relies strictly on the original Pali Canon of Buddhist texts.
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| lanterns and statues |
Mahayana is the newer and larger school of Buddhism. It teaches enlightenment through teaching and that there are living bodhisattvas (Buddhist saints) to guide our lives during periods - such as now - when there is no living Buddha on earth to guide us. In Mahayana it is possible, though rare, to achieve enlightenment in just one lifetime. Mahayana has extended the Buddhist canon to include the Sutras, a series of additional scholarly scriptures meant to teach, explain, and expand on Buddhist teaching.
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| beautiful Chinese architecture |
Visiting this temple was especially interesting to me, because one of the guys on the tour had been a monk for a time, and thus was able to explain a lot of what we saw. He grew up in Malaysia, and had ordained as a Theravada monk near the Thai border when he was younger. During university, he studied in the United States, and at one point ordained again, this time as a Mahayana monk! He's the only "double monk" that I know of!
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| Chinese deities |
Where Theravada is more heavily influenced by Hindu and Indian culture, Mahayana is very much integrated with Taoism, Confucianism, and Chinese culture. You can't visit a Mahayana temple without encountering Chinese script, red lanterns, and statues of the Chinese bodhisattvas or Taoist gods.
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| Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian shrines |
It was really great to have an inside perspective to be able to show us what was what inside the Chinese temple. I have to admit, I don't know so much about Mahayana Buddhism compared to Theravada, which is almost ubiquitous in Thailand.
A large mosaic on one wall showed a large procession of Mahayana monks on an alms round to a large city. The mosaic featured many Chinese motifs, along with examples of historic daily life.
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| a mosaic of monks on an alms round to a large city |
The temple is not only Chinese, however! It also features elements of the third, smaller and more elusive branch of Buddhism, Vajrayana (Tibetan; the sect to which the Dalai Lama belongs). As far as I know, it is the only temple in Bangkok (possibly in Thailand) to minister to the spiritual needs of Vajrayana Buddhists (who mostly live in the Himalayas and Mongolia).
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| a wide-angle view of the interior prayer hall |
If I know little about Mahayana, I know far less about Vajrayana! I do know that it's more mystical than the other two branches of Buddhism, but beyond that, it's kind of a mystery to me. I've never encountered it, nor had the chance to study much about it.
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| Buddha and a Chinese dragon |
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| the main central shrine |
Wat Bhoman is an overlooked temple in Bangkok. Though it's located decently close to the central business district, the easiest way to reach it is by the overlooked and underappreciated (but excellent) BRT system, which few people remember. It's a shame, though, because it constantly is praised by guidebooks and blogs as one of the most beautiful and unique temples not only in Thailand, but in Southeast Asia!
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| the main Buddha image |
Besides the Chinese characters written around the temple (usually printings of the Heart, Diamond, or Lotus Sutras), there were also panels featuring what I believe to be Tibetan script on the exterior walls of the main temple hall. I'm not sure if it's intentional, but to me, this signals the inclusivity of Wat Bhoman as a spiritual home for the "others", that small minority living in a 95% Theravada country who may practice another form of Buddhism.
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| Tibetan script |
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